How To Make Things Not Awkward
by travellove99
Summary: Set one day after Nico's confession to Percy. Percy realizes that he needs to talk to Nico, maybe tell him that he supports Nico. Special appearance by Will Solace ;) Suckish summary but hopefully a better story.


It had been 3 days since the war against Gaia finally ended. Both camps had slowly grown accustomed to each other, though there were still many disagreement amongst the campers, especially violent when it came to the Ares and Mars kids. Now the Romans were getting ready to go back to Camp Jupiter and the Greeks were returning to their usual schedules.

In those 3 days, Percy had seen a lot of emotional scars at camp. Even after the war, all the campers were still visibly shaken from the monster attacks and losses that they had faced in the past year or so, himself included. His nightmares had grown more vivid and Tartarus-infested. He woke up in cold sweat every night and couldn't get back to sleep after that. The college plans he had made with Annabeth were a sort of assurance that Gaia had been dealt with and everyone could finally go back to their normal lives, or however normal life got as a demigod.

In all the chaos of going back to normalcy, Nico had been a completely different case. The kid had been through so much, right from when he was 10. He's been through Tartarus alone, had stayed in the captivity of Giants and even after all that, had transported the Athena Parthenos half way across the world with only Reyna and Coach Hedge as companions. After Bianca's death, Nico had been forced to mature way too fast for anyone. He'd distanced himself from camp and had yet proved to be a hero on more than one occasion. Percy had always had a feeling that Nico hadn't completely forgiven him for Bianca's death but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Nico had a crush on him.

Now, after Nico's confession, Percy felt terrible. He knew that he'd probably acted really dense but he had been confused too. Coming from the 40s, it must have been extremely hard for Nico to admit his sexuality to himself, much less to his crush. But for that one moment, Percy had seen a confident spark in Nico's eyes, one that he hadn't seen in a long time. After he turned around and left, Percy felt the need to run after him but in his confusion, he hadn't. For the past 4 years Percy thought Nico had hated him. Now he didn't know how to apologize for being so blind – not that Nico made it very obvious. But he did know that he had to clear the air.

So the next morning, Percy walked into the dining pavilion, looking for the son of Hades. After the Romans had left, everyone had returned to their usual seating arrangements. The Hades table was empty so he figured that Nico had decided to sleep in. However, when he turned to go to his own table, he saw Nico sitting with Jason at the Zeus table. Jason saw him and waved him over, grinning. Nico just turned in his seat and looked at him unsurely and defensively as if he expected Percy to yell at him.

"Hey man!" Jason exclaimed, his glasses sitting crookedly at the bridge of his nose. Gesturing grandly at the long table, he continued, "Nico and I have officially decided that this is the Big 3 table. Definitely beats sitting alone for meals. Now we can all sit together, hang out and just be bros." He sat back, grinning wildly with a smug look on his face.

Percy fought back the urge to laugh and simply raised an eyebrow at Nico. Nico just rolled his eyes and shrugged, "It was Jason's idea. I don't really mind though. A certain son of Apollo made it quite clear that being alone all the time isn't helping my health."

That left Percy even more confused but he just shrugged and replied, "Yeah well…as long I can eat in peace, I don't mind either." He took a seat next to Nico and said, "Anyways, I did want to talk to you." He stared pointedly at Jason who got the message and stood up quickly, blabbering something about talking to Piper and left, though not before sending a quick wink in Nico's direction. So maybe Jason did know about something.

As soon as Jason was out of hearing range, Nico hastily turned to Percy with a slight flush and started rambling, "I know it's probably weird for you after the whole 'clearing the air' thing but I swear I'm completely over you. I just didn't want to make things awkward between us though now I definitely have and I totally understand if you're mad at me but-"

"Whoa. Nico. Slow down," Percy said, putting his hands up in a placating manner, "I'm not mad at you. Not even close. In fact, I should be the one apologizing for being so dense!"

Nico just stared back, obviously confused. Percy took this as a sign to go on explaining so he started again, "I thought you hated me after whatever happened with Bianca. I thought you hadn't forgiven me. You became so drawn back after her death that I thought it was my fault."

Nico opened his mouth to interrupt but Percy continued, "And for the record, I'm not weirded out by you. At all. I'm actually really proud of you. It couldn't have been easy for keeping that in for so long. I just want to apologize for not realizing sooner. And I hope you know that Jason and I totally have your back, as should the rest of the camp. If anyone gives you trouble, you come to us and we'll kick their butts." He took a deep breath, glad to get all that out of his system.

Nico just gaped at him, shocked. After a moment however, he began to laugh. "And I thought you were coming here to tell me how freaked out you are by me," he said, looking gratefully at Percy. He glanced at all the campers before looking back at Percy, "I never thought I'd get accepted here. Being a son of Hades, everyone was already scared of me. But I guess that it was partly my fault. I pushed people away. I kept telling myself I hated you, even though I knew that it wasn't true. I thought that my…preference wouldn't get me any points at camp. I know that the society is more accepting than it was in the 30s but I'm still getting used to it." He shrugged before looking down. "Thanks by the way. For not thinking I'm a freak,"

"Nico," Percy put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, "I would never think that. I'm glad you're staying at camp. Who knows...you might just find someone special here."

At that, Nico blushed. "Haha maybe…"

Percy laughed and stood up. He offered a hand to Nico and said, "Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. You want to go spar or something? I really need to brush up on my sword skills. We could ask Jason too."

Nico took Percy's hand and stood up, smirking. "As much as I'd enjoy kicking both your butts, I unfortunately owe Solace 3 days in the infirmary. Maybe another time."

Percy grinned at Nico. "Will Solace, huh? Is he the certain son of Apollo who told you to spend more time with people?"

Nico glared at him and said, "Maybe…"

"Nice choice."

"Shut up, Jackson." Nico glared at him some more but Percy just laughed.

"Hey Death Boy!"

Nico and Percy both turned around to see Will making his way over to their table, smiling at Nico. He waved to Percy before turning to Nico and folding his hands across his chest. "I hope you haven't forgotten that you still have 2 more days left at the infirmary."

"No, Solace. I didn't. I was just heading over there right now," Nico said, grinning back at the son of Apollo, "Besides who else is going to annoy you when you're busy working on your patients?"

Will just rolled his eyes and shook his head, laughing, "Come on then. I need someone to get me refreshments from time to time while I'm working and you're perfect for that job."

"Shut up, Will"

"Whatever. We don't have all day, Death Boy"

"Don't call me Death Boy!"

Percy watched their conversation amusedly. It had been a long time since he'd seen Nico talk so animatedly with another camper. He'd definitely changed and Percy was genuinely happy for him. If anyone deserved a break, it was Nico.

Nico gave him a quick wave before turning to go to the infirmary with Will. Percy smiled and made his way to the Athena table where Annabeth was waiting for him. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and they made their way to the strawberry fields.

She took his hands and asked, "How was your talk with Nico?"

He smiled at her and replied, "Good. Really good actually. I'm glad he's making friends."

"He really surprised me, you know. I never thought he had a crush on you though I'm glad he came out to you."

"Me too," Percy exhaled slowly before turning to Annabeth, "Now let's hope for a monster free year and enjoy camp while we can."


End file.
